Troubles in Community

Monday, 27 August 2012

Troubles in Community
The church will always have troubles. The letters of St. Paul were written to deal with specific problems in the different churches, most of them serious.

Jesus had probably more problems with the first 12 than is written in the Gospels. Our human nature is such that most of us from time to time will also be some kind of a problem for the communities that we belong to. Moral failures, in fighting, gossip and struggles for power, are common aspects of any community and the Christian congregations are no different.

It is also easier to see problems and failures in others than within ourselves, easy to point fingers and to destroy the reputations of others without remorse, without any understanding that what is being done is actually evil.

This should not be a source of discouragement, though it may cause suffering. It is part of our human condition. People have a past; often cruel and abusive, or lonely, or they come from families with lots of addictions.

In the Christian path these have to be grown through and it is often a slow process that could take a lifetime. That is why we are called upon to be compassionate with others and hopefully, others will be compassionate with us. Rigidity only leads to hypocrisy; causing problems and difficult issues to be buried and not dealt with -- so the problems deal with us when they finally erupt to the surface. When community members come to understand that they live in a compassionate community, forgiving and offering the love and mercy of Christ Jesus, then our churches and congregations will be healthier and true lights for the world.

To stick with any community is difficult. To stay with one that has love of God and the openness to grace as its central tenet, can make it that much more difficult because of the manifest failures of its members. For the higher the calling, the easier it is to fall. We are called to have compassion on those who perhaps at a certain stage of life can’t return it, yet they are our brothers and sisters on the way.

In the Christian path, Christ Jesus calls us to be ever more fully human, which means that we are not yet at that stage. As we mature in our walk with the Lord, the new life that he calls us to takes ever deeper root. Jesus was not driven by fears, anxious concerns and personal sins that kept him from facing life fully; not seeking to retreat into cynicism, contempt and anger. These are ploys that can be used to free us from understanding the struggles and sufferings of those around us and by doing so blocking us from the self knowledge that is needed on our path into ever deeper grace and love.

What are some of the problems that Paul wrote to the early disciples about? How many of them still exist in community today? What can we learn from Paul's letters to the early church about the situations we find ourselves in today? What has been your experience with Christian community?

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Comments (4)

In the first meeting where women were allowed, Paul admonished them to be quiet. They' d never been in public, with men nevertheless, and must have had a lot to talk about. I would have. He also admonished them to never teach, and not to adorn themselves, my word, not his. Slavery was the norm back then, and as we've seen it leave our society, far too long in the waiting, we've seen women in teaching positions, and in leadership positions. Christ himself used women to travel and deliver messages, so I've always felt that we either misinterpreted Paul, or, that he was a few marks off our Savior, with whom he never traveled and learned from personally. Fundamentalists do not allow female preachers, while the reformed church has made huge leaps and bounds in this area, and we've seen momentous success by doing so. I've had both wonderful and very sad experiences with the Christian community, and since I was raised LDS, it took me along time to accept some normal traditions of he Christian faith, mainly, I have a wonderful female pastor who just cannot be beat, as I've attended most churches in our valley in 18 years. I also had trouble with the idea of paying a pastor, since, growing up in a lay church where no one is paid was the norm for serving God. I've never accepted infant baptism, but choose to be happy for those families who do, and accept that we never find 100% of perfection with our churches. I'm also happy that I've been encouraged to speak my mind, and be encouraged to state what I'm thinking rather than keep it to myself.
- 8/28/2012 6:28 AM
- Pollypinks@xanga (message)
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Thank you my friend. We can read Paul's letters and perhaps take some of the cutrual norms back then and make them "the word of God". He was writing letters, not scripture, it was later that they were of course put into the canon. I am glad that you stayed with it my friend, it leads to inner growth, humility and an ever expanding love and acceptance of others.....with of course speaking your mind as part of it, we all have something to say.

Peace
mark
- 8/28/2012 8:03 AM
- markdohle (message)
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Excellent Post! Paul's letters were just that, letters to the churches he planted, and anointed primarily for that time and place and cultures, now being subjected to outrageous interpretations for our day. I submit Christ Himself had more to say about the problems in the church today in His letters to the Seven Churches, Revelation 2 & 3. "In other words, these seven Churches, in their names, in their graces, in their defects, in their relations to Christ, and in His promises and threatenings to them severally,comprehend everything found in the entire Church, as it then existed, or was to exist." (The Apocalypse: A Series of Special Lectures on the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Joseph A Seiss.)
Each of us believers would do well reading and meditating upon these, allowing God's Spirit to guide us into all truth pertaining to ourselves individually and to our local church community. Then we find ourselves more prepared to perceive, receive and apply the universal Christian truths found in the epistles of the Apostles.
- 8/28/2012 9:25 AM
- JerusalemHill@xanga (message)
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@JerusalemHill@xanga - Thank you my friend, a truly wonderful comment, I will also follow your advise and look into Revelation 2 and 3.

Peace

Mark
- 8/28/2012 6:20 PM
- markdohle (message)
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